Montanes, Gasquet win French 1st rounders

MONTPELLIER, France, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Seeded players Albert Montanes and Richard Gasquet claimed first-round wins Monday at the Sud de France Open tennis tournament.

Montanes, seeded No. 6, capped the opening day of the event with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Arnaud Clement. Montanes saved all three of Clement's break-point opportunities and lost only 14 points in his 10 service games.

The seventh-seeded Gasquet got past Julian Reister 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-3. He was 4-of-5 -- all in the second set -- in saving break points behind an attack that included 11 aces.

Frederico Gil battled to a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the day's other match. Both players had four breaks but Gil had three of his in the third in advancing.

The tournament field features four Top 20 players, including No. 1-seed Nikolay Davydenko.